Chapter Three: Victory
Chen and Asante demonstrate how to tell a compelling story through song verses and show you how to shape your new song into a finished artistic statement.
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Your Assignment
- Watch the video in which Soul Science Lab describes how the verses in your new song can tell a story from start to finish.
- Note how Chen and Asante focus the lyrics for Verse One on how things are in the world at this moment, and the lyrics for Verse Two on how things could be.
- See how they create different sections in the song “Victory” to tell a story.
- Brainstorm ideas for the verses based on the structure that Chen and Asante detail in the video.
- Verse One should be about how things are in the world right now.
- Verse Two should be about how things could be.
- Open your “Victory” song file in SoundTrap and extend the same heartbeat from your chorus into the verse. Add any musical additions you see fit to make sections for each part of the song and tell a story through sound.
- Perform your verses in this new space and sew the whole song together into a single file.
- Share your finished song with your teachers, friends, and family. Take their comments and make another round of edits so your mission statement really pops!
- After you have finished your song, reflect on the whole process that you have gone through with Chen and Asante:
- How does your finished song really represent you and your ideas?
- What have you discovered through this creative process that you didn’t know about yourself before?
- What other topics, events, or feelings do you want to write songs about?
- In your journey as an artist, what else do you want to learn?
Explore Other Parts of Make a Joyful Noize
Introduction: Joy in the Artist’s Calling
In this introductory video, Chen and Asante ask you to create your own artistic mission statement as a way of kickstarting your creative process.
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson One: Community, Context, and Culture
What is your personal definition of culture, and where do you find joy in your life?
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson Two: Finding the Heartbeat
Listen deeply to your favorite music and define a musical “heartbeat” that you can use as a seed for your own piece of music.
Chapter One: We Got That | Lesson Three: For the Culture
Create a lyrical hook that expresses your artistic mission statement in music.
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind | Lesson One: The Art of Collaboration
Chen and Asante introduce the qualities of strong collaborations and ask you to think about your favorite examples of two artists working together to create music.
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind | Lesson Two: Reimagine and Remix!
Chen and Asante share some of the musical elements of the song “Free Ya Mind,” and ask you to create your own remix of the song using the stems from the recording session.
Chapter Two: Free Ya Mind | Lesson Three: Flip the Script
How would you create your own original backing track to support the first vocal verse of “Free Ya Mind?”
Chapter Three: Victory | Lesson One: The Mission and Rhythm
Chen and Asante demonstrate how to create a song around the ideas and images expressed in a personal artistic mission statement.
Chapter Three: Victory | Lesson Two: A Soundtrack for Victory
Build the musical accompaniment for the new hook that you created out of your mission statement.